Product description

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.

Author information

Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She attended Huntingdon College and studied law at the University of Alabama. She is the author of To Kill a Mockingbird and has been awarded numerous literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Customer reviews

Racism has been one of the most controversial yet important topics of the mid 20th century. Harper Lee explores this avenue of life and change as her main character Scout Finch (a six-year-old girl living in the fictional old town of Maycomb, Alabama) whose father Atticus Finch is trying to defend Tom Robinson. Robinson has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman. Atticus Finch is the lawyer assigned by the court to defend Tom.
What unfolds is an emotional journey for Scout and her older brother Jem Finch. As their father struggles with the court case, Jem and Scout both explore their own mysteries such as their reclusive neighbor "Boo" Radley with their best friend Dill. The author manages to combine childish innocence with the ever dangerous world of adults in a beautiful way. This is a story about friendship, love, acceptance, and most importantly, about the need to understand the plight of others and handle your own problems in a sensible and mature way.

Review quote

"Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable." Truman Capote "There is humour as well as tragedy in this book, besides its faint note of hope for human nature; and it is delightfully written" Sunday Times "No one ever forgets this book" Independent "One of the best novels I remember ... uniquely unsentimental" Guardian "Her book is lifted ... into the rare company of those that linger in the memory" Bookman

Back cover copy

'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.'
A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.